Richard Branson – From Dyslexic Kid To Multi-Billionaire
Richard Branson is a business magnate, investor and founder of Virgin Group Ltd. Along with other billionaires such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Warren Buffett, Branson created huge impacts on the world on his own.
But not everyone knows about his childhood disease, and the ups and downs he has gone through.
Branson underwent an outrageous teenager with many ambitions and even dropped out of school because of dyslexia and poor academic performance.
However, with his own extraordinary will, together with his family’s support and encouragement, the boy who was once laughed by his peers has now become the owner of the famous Virgin Group, observed relentlessly by millions of people around the world.
From an early age, Richard Branson was born with dyslexia - a rare disease that interferes with reading and writing.
Thus, it is unsurprising that his academic performance was always bottom of his class.
However, all that could not stop young Richard Branson from implementing his bold ideas.
During his years at Stowe School, Branson once wrote a long letter to headmaster Robert Drayson, pointing out problems in school operations & giving advice on an early change.
Furthermore, Branson firmly claimed that Stowe School would save a lot of money on following these recommendations, which the headmaster could use for pursuant investments.
Thanks to this event, Branson left a deep impression on the headmaster’s mind.
The reason was upon knowing Branson would leave school at 16 to pursue a business career, Mr. Drayson congratulated him, guessing “one day you will be in jail, or become a millionaire.”
True to that, because of the family difficulties, plus the disability complex, Branson quit before finishing high school.
Even though, his mother Eve still believed that he was in the top 1% elites, which she bet upon.
Eve always trained her son to be resilient on facing challenges. She was a key contributor to Branson’s success.
Eve always taught Branson that if he failed to suppress negative energy, he wouldn’t be able to get out and would suffer paralysis, just like being poisoned.
At that moment, there would be no room for positive emotions such as trust, hope, excitement and tolerance.
Upon leaving school at 17, with the help of a friend, Richard Branson founded his first magazine, called The Student, and maintained it under a basement in London.
Recalling the tough times, Branson said, “When starting the magazine, my co-founder Jonny Gems and I moved to his basement to prepare the first issue. The basement was quite dark and damp, and we were hungry as well.”
He continued that one day, his mother visited the two. She found a necklace on a street nearby and turned it over to the police.
After three months, nobody came to claim the necklace, and the police said she could do whatever she wanted, after which she sold the necklace for £100, now equivalent to £500, and gave the pair all that money.
That £100 was enough to pay bills, keeping Branson and Gems going for several months.
Then the magazine became popular and they eventually started selling the recordings by mail order in the magazine, and from there Virgin Records was born.
“That £100 ultimately paved the way for Virgin Galactic, Atlantic and every other Virgin company in the world today,” said Branson.
After that, the newspaper flourished thanks to Branson's persuasive skills.
The Student received many interview confirmations from famous figures, such as music legends John Lennon, Mick Jagger and even invited philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre as a writer.
However, despite being highly rated in terms of content, The Student did not acquire much profit as expected.
Worse still, Branson almost ended up in jail for publishing a venereal cure in the magazine.
The idea went so successful with such a high sale of records that Branson had to set up his own record store.
With the meaning refer to Branson and his colleagues were all newcomers in this business field, “Virgin” was the name chosen.
During the next period, Branson quickly realized the disparity in the music industry where domestic products were subject to a 33% tax while the same products exported were duty free.
Virgin Records continued to receive much success after that and began to expand its activities to directly record and release tapes for famous groups such as the Sex Pistols, Culture Club and the Rolling Stones...
By 1983, Branson had built a powerful empire with about 50 SMEs, netting annually $17 million and officially became a millionaire.
Who could have known the "prophecy" of the headmaster in the past incorporated into the life of Richard Branson?
So Virgin Records Company, specializing in recording famous bands, was born.
This company expanded into establishing a large music group called Virgin Group and in 1992, Virgin Group was sold to Thorn Music Group - EMI for $ 1 billion, switching to invest in aviation.
Then, Branson added Virgin Galactic, Virgin Mobile and Virgin Trains, respectively.
He is currently worth $4 billion, according to Forbes.
In 2004, he used the Aquada amphibians to advertise Virgin Airlines.
And in 2007, Branson even surprised everyone when he tied himself with a cable, jumping off the roof of the Palms Casino Hotel in Las Vegas to introduce Virgin America Airlines.
It can be noticed that this billionaire never seems to run out of "weird" ideas and is a man who has never been afraid to back down.
Up to now, Virgin Galactic has had more than 700 pre-registrations to reserve seats on each flight, with countless famous names such as scientist Stephen Hawking, singer Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber...
More than 70 years old, Richard Branson still seems to have no intention of stopping the business even though his lifetime business goal was always for the challenge instead of profit.
Though more than 50 years have passed since the moment Richard Branson dropped out of school to walk on his own, this man's eyes never ceased to glow with the desire to reach new horizons.
H/T: Biography
But not everyone knows about his childhood disease, and the ups and downs he has gone through.
Source: CoinNounce
Branson underwent an outrageous teenager with many ambitions and even dropped out of school because of dyslexia and poor academic performance.
However, with his own extraordinary will, together with his family’s support and encouragement, the boy who was once laughed by his peers has now become the owner of the famous Virgin Group, observed relentlessly by millions of people around the world.
Congenital dyslexia and school dropout
Source: KanChi
From an early age, Richard Branson was born with dyslexia - a rare disease that interferes with reading and writing.
Thus, it is unsurprising that his academic performance was always bottom of his class.
However, all that could not stop young Richard Branson from implementing his bold ideas.
During his years at Stowe School, Branson once wrote a long letter to headmaster Robert Drayson, pointing out problems in school operations & giving advice on an early change.
Furthermore, Branson firmly claimed that Stowe School would save a lot of money on following these recommendations, which the headmaster could use for pursuant investments.
Thanks to this event, Branson left a deep impression on the headmaster’s mind.
The reason was upon knowing Branson would leave school at 16 to pursue a business career, Mr. Drayson congratulated him, guessing “one day you will be in jail, or become a millionaire.”
True to that, because of the family difficulties, plus the disability complex, Branson quit before finishing high school.
Even though, his mother Eve still believed that he was in the top 1% elites, which she bet upon.
Eve always trained her son to be resilient on facing challenges. She was a key contributor to Branson’s success.
Eve always taught Branson that if he failed to suppress negative energy, he wouldn’t be able to get out and would suffer paralysis, just like being poisoned.
At that moment, there would be no room for positive emotions such as trust, hope, excitement and tolerance.
The first bricks
Source: Tumblr
Upon leaving school at 17, with the help of a friend, Richard Branson founded his first magazine, called The Student, and maintained it under a basement in London.
Recalling the tough times, Branson said, “When starting the magazine, my co-founder Jonny Gems and I moved to his basement to prepare the first issue. The basement was quite dark and damp, and we were hungry as well.”
He continued that one day, his mother visited the two. She found a necklace on a street nearby and turned it over to the police.
After three months, nobody came to claim the necklace, and the police said she could do whatever she wanted, after which she sold the necklace for £100, now equivalent to £500, and gave the pair all that money.
That £100 was enough to pay bills, keeping Branson and Gems going for several months.
Then the magazine became popular and they eventually started selling the recordings by mail order in the magazine, and from there Virgin Records was born.
“That £100 ultimately paved the way for Virgin Galactic, Atlantic and every other Virgin company in the world today,” said Branson.
After that, the newspaper flourished thanks to Branson's persuasive skills.
The Student received many interview confirmations from famous figures, such as music legends John Lennon, Mick Jagger and even invited philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre as a writer.
However, despite being highly rated in terms of content, The Student did not acquire much profit as expected.
Worse still, Branson almost ended up in jail for publishing a venereal cure in the magazine.
Success from madness
Source: Virgin
The idea went so successful with such a high sale of records that Branson had to set up his own record store.
With the meaning refer to Branson and his colleagues were all newcomers in this business field, “Virgin” was the name chosen.
During the next period, Branson quickly realized the disparity in the music industry where domestic products were subject to a 33% tax while the same products exported were duty free.
Virgin Records continued to receive much success after that and began to expand its activities to directly record and release tapes for famous groups such as the Sex Pistols, Culture Club and the Rolling Stones...
By 1983, Branson had built a powerful empire with about 50 SMEs, netting annually $17 million and officially became a millionaire.
Who could have known the "prophecy" of the headmaster in the past incorporated into the life of Richard Branson?
So Virgin Records Company, specializing in recording famous bands, was born.
This company expanded into establishing a large music group called Virgin Group and in 1992, Virgin Group was sold to Thorn Music Group - EMI for $ 1 billion, switching to invest in aviation.
Source: CNBC
Then, Branson added Virgin Galactic, Virgin Mobile and Virgin Trains, respectively.
He is currently worth $4 billion, according to Forbes.
A man of extraordinarily “crazy” ventures
In 1994, when launching his first Virgin Cola beverage, Branson drove a tank to New York's Times Square and rolled over cans of Coca Cola as a challenge to the American giant.In 2004, he used the Aquada amphibians to advertise Virgin Airlines.
And in 2007, Branson even surprised everyone when he tied himself with a cable, jumping off the roof of the Palms Casino Hotel in Las Vegas to introduce Virgin America Airlines.
It can be noticed that this billionaire never seems to run out of "weird" ideas and is a man who has never been afraid to back down.
Source: Bloomberg
Up to now, Virgin Galactic has had more than 700 pre-registrations to reserve seats on each flight, with countless famous names such as scientist Stephen Hawking, singer Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber...
More than 70 years old, Richard Branson still seems to have no intention of stopping the business even though his lifetime business goal was always for the challenge instead of profit.
Though more than 50 years have passed since the moment Richard Branson dropped out of school to walk on his own, this man's eyes never ceased to glow with the desire to reach new horizons.
H/T: Biography
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